History of South Sudan Timeline

In 1821 the Funj Sultanate to the north collapsed in the face of an invasion by Egypt under the Ottoman Governor Muhammad Ali, beginning ties between the south and Sudan under Turco-Egyptian rule.

Image source: Turco-Egyptian Sudan

In 1827 Ali Khurshid Pasha led a force through the Dinka lands and in 1830 led an expedition to the junction of the White Nile and the Sobat.

The most successful expeditions were led by Admiral Salim Qabudan who between 1839 and 1842 sailed the White Nile, reaching as far south as modern-day Juba.

Image source: Juba

The period of Egyptian rule coincided with a great increase in global demand for ivory as middle class Americans and Europeans began purchasing pianos and billiard balls, driving Sudanese merchants deep into the south.

Image source: History of South Sudan

In 1851, under pressure from foreign powers, the government of Egypt opened the region to European merchants and missionaries, though the missionaries had little early impact.

Isma'il Pasha hired the British explorer Samuel Baker in 1869 to govern the area and supplied him with soldiers and financing, but Baker was unable to extend Turko-Egyptian power over the area.

Image source: Samuel Baker

In 1873 Isma'il Pasha agreed to appoint al-Zubayr as Ottoman governor, declaring him al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur Pasha; he had earlier defeated Darfur in 1874, killing Ibrahim, the last Fur sultan prior to Ali Dinar's restoration.

Image source: Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur

Amid British media stories about al-Zubayr the "Slaver King," Charles George Gordon was appointed governor of Equatoria in 1874; al-Zubayr was placed under house arrest after traveling to Cairo in 1877.

Image source: Equatoria

In 1878 Gordon was replaced by Emin Pasha as governor of Equatoria, which ceased to exist as an Egyptian outpost in 1889 following the Mahdist uprising.

Image source: Emin Pasha

Following the Fashoda Incident and the Anglo-Egyptian conferences of 1899, the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium was established, extending its claims of sovereignty over modern day South Sudan and establishing an administration.

Image source: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

In 1902 Agar Dinka under Myang Mathiang assaulted a government column, killing the British officer leading it, part of ongoing resistance to colonial rule.

In 1905 the government barred missionary activity north of the 10th parallel and carved out spheres of influence for different missionary organizations, whose schools housed about 700 pupils by 1925.

Image source: Belt and Road Initiative

The Atuot rose in revolt in 1907; although quelled, a corvée fine led to open revolt in 1909, and despite Ashwol's reinstatement as chief in 1913, the Atuot rose once again in 1917.

Murah Ibrahim of the Kresh people and Andel Abdullahi of the Binga people fought the colonial government from 1908 until 1912 using French territory as a base, until they were defeated at Kafia Kingi.

Image source: Kafia Kingi

All major posts in the south were linked by telegraph in 1908, and wireless transmission was introduced in 1914, improving colonial communications.

In 1919 some 3,000 Aliab Dinka overran a police post near Bor and killed eight policemen, while allied Mundari people attacked telegraph linesmen and police.

Image source: Bor, South Sudan

Following Egypt's independence in 1922 and the assassination of Sudan's governor-general in 1924, British and Egyptian tensions soared over control of Sudan.

The Didinga did not come under Anglo-Egyptian administration until 1922 following a campaign launched from Uganda by the King's African Rifles, while the Toposa rose in revolt in 1926 after a British post was established at Kapoeta.

Image source: Toposa people

The colonial administration's goals for southern Sudan were articulated in the Southern Policy document written by Harold MacMichael in 1928, legalizing a policy of developing the south separately from the north.

In 1946, without consulting southerners, the British administration reversed its Southern Policy and began implementing a policy of uniting the north and the south.

Despite policy shifts, government school budgets stayed small and missionary schools dominated; the first secondary school was only opened in Rumbek in 1949.

Image source: Rumbek

On 18 August 1955 the Equatorial Corps garrison in Torit, composed of local southern Sudanese, mutinied over the prospects of being replaced with northern Sudanese soldiers, presaging civil war.

In 1962 multiple guerrilla groups formed the Anyanya, which would come to be southern Sudan's largest insurgent group during the First Sudanese Civil War.

Image source: Anyanya

Meetings mediated by the World Council of Churches and All Africa Conference of Churches led to the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1972, ending the war and establishing the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region.

Image source: Addis Ababa Agreement (1972)

In 1983 President Gaafar Nimeiry declared all of Sudan an Islamic state under Sharia law, including the non-Islamic majority south; the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was abolished on 5 June 1983, ending the Addis Ababa Agreement.

Image source: Second Sudanese Civil War

Several factions split from the SPLA along ethnic lines, most notably the SPLA-Nasir led by Riek Machar in 1991; in the Bor massacre about 2,000 civilians were killed and another estimated 25,000 died from resulting famine.

Signed in Machakos, Kenya between the Government of Sudan and the SPLA/M, the agreement ended the Second Sudanese Civil War, reestablished the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region and set an independence referendum for 2011.

Image source: Comprehensive Peace Agreement

President Salva Kiir alleged that on 14 December 2013 an SPLA faction loyal to Riek Machar attempted a coup, sparking a devastating civil war in which about 400,000 people were killed, including the 2014 Bentiu massacre.

Image source: South Sudanese Civil War

In January 2014 the first ceasefire agreement of the civil war was reached, though fighting continued despite repeated truces.

Following the August 2015 "Compromise Peace Agreement," Riek Machar returned to Juba and was sworn in as vice-president under a power-sharing arrangement.

Image source: South Sudanese Civil War

In 2010 the CIA warned that a new mass killing or genocide was most likely to occur in southern Sudan; inter-ethnic fighting intensified in 2011 in Jonglei between the Nuer White Army and the Murle.

Image source: Ethnic violence in South Sudan

As promised by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, southern Sudan held an independence referendum in 2011, with voters overwhelmingly choosing secession from Sudan.

Image source: 2011 South Sudanese independence referendum

In May 2011 the SPLA allegedly set fire to over 7,000 homes in Unity State during fighting in the region.

Image source: Unity State

On 6 June 2011 armed conflict broke out between the forces of Northern and Southern Sudan ahead of the scheduled independence of the South on 9 July; Ethiopian peacekeepers later entered disputed border areas.

Image source: South Sudanese wars of independence

At midnight on 9 July 2011, southern Sudan became an independent country under the name "Republic of South Sudan" after decades of conflict.

Image source: South Sudan

On 14 July 2011 South Sudan became the 193rd member state of the United Nations, and on 28 July 2011 it joined the African Union as its 54th member state.

Image source: United Nations Mission in South Sudan

In March 2012 the Sudanese Air Force bombed areas of South Sudan's Unity State near the border of Sudan's South Kordofan province amid escalating border conflict.

Image source: Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile

The two countries recommenced negotiations in June 2012 under mediation by the African Union's envoy Thabo Mbeki to resolve disputes over oil and borders.

Image source: Thabo Mbeki

In mid-March 2013 both countries began withdrawing forces from the border area to create a demilitarised buffer zone and resume South Sudanese oil production for export through Sudan.

Image source: Demographics of South Sudan

In August 2018 another power sharing agreement came into effect, bringing renewed hope for stability after five years of civil war.